Middles Class Summary–September 9, 2012

Middles Class Summary–September 9, 2012

EvaRCohenSeptember 25, 2012November 22, 2016

After getting to know each other by playing a name game, the JCS Middles class used a map to learn about the Jewish Diaspora and how it contributed to the cultural split between Ashkenazim and Sephardim. Students shared their knowledge of the High Holidays, focusing primarily on Rosh Hashanah, and learned about the foods a Sephardi Jew might eat to celebrate. They noticed that apples and honey was a food tradition shared by all Jews. While the students ate snack (including apples and honey, of course), they heard a story called Seed by Seed (by Esme Raji Codell and Lynne Rae Perkins) about Johnny Appleseed, and how he lived by example. Using Johnny Appleseed’s morals (use what you have; share what you have; respect nature; try to makie peace where there is war; reach your destination by taking small steps) as a guide, the students wrote a goal for the coming year on a bread-shaped paper cutout. Then the class had a Tashlikh, where everyone threw their “crumbs” into the “ocean” (a blue parachute). Toward the end of our class, Sarah, another JCS teacher, visited and taught some Hebrew words related to Rosh Hashanah, and the students learned to sing “Apples and Honey.”